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25 August 2018

LEGO® Harry Potter: 71403 Hogwarts Castle

LEGO® have just released their second largest set ever, 71043 Hogwarts Castle, so Elspeth De Montes thought we would take a look at the new elements. With 6,020 parts and a £349.99/ US$399.99/ 399.99€ price tag, perhaps we should warn you to pop the kettle on a get yourself a cuppa as there are quite a few magical elements to uncover in this huge set.

To start, there are three interesting new moulds all introduced in Brick Yellow [TLG]/ Tan [BL].

The first two are currently exclusive to 71043 Hogwarts Castle, and have an important role in depicting the microscale arched windows of Hogwarts’ Great Hall.

Both of the new elements have a base that is a 1x1 brick in shape and then arch out into a wider upper surface.

While the base of the T-arch is 1x1, the upper surface extends to 1x2 and has a central recessed stud, the same as a 1x2 jumper plate (Design ID 15573).

As each of these new bricks contains half an arch at each end, naturally they are at their most attractive when lined up together to complete the full arches. The resultant shape is the same as the existing 1x3 arch (Design ID 4490).

There’s no half-arch end piece to finish so the only way to neatly complete all the arches is to create a square or a rectangle with the corner arch. I’ll be interested to see how others use them as I think the reliance on half arches has limited their use a little.

The third new element is Roof Tile 1X1, Deg. 45, W/O Knobs (Element ID 6230284 | Design ID 35464). This also appears in 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall (Amazon USA | Amazon UK) which has 12 compared to only four in this set. It has already appeared in the Unikitty! range in Bright Orange [TLG]/ Orange [BL] and Light Royal Blue [TLG]/ Bright Light Blue [BL].

The official name “Roof Tile 1X1, Deg. 45, W/O Knobs” is not exactly correct, basic geometry would define that an equilateral triangle with two 45° angles would have a right angle as the third angle, but the geometry is a few degrees off.

Presumably this is because it is more important that the piece conforms to other conventions of the system – in terms of the height of the 'lip' around the base of the piece, and its overall height.

Although we haven’t yet discussed it here on New Elementary, the introduction of 1x1 brackets is an exciting step.

Here, Plate 1X1 w/ 1.5 Plate 1X1 Downwards comes in Medium Stone Grey [TLG] / Light Bluish Gray [BL] (Element ID 6248087 | 36841) and also appears in a couple of other August 2018 releases. It first appeared in 70657 Ninjago City Docks (Amazon USA | Amazon UK) which was released earlier in Europe. Note also that this element appears in Medium Blue in 75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow.

We have already covered both the new Wand Element (Design ID 36752) and the Wand on Sprue in detail; suffice to say that there are three colours of wand included in this set Sand Yellow [TLG]/ Dark Tan [BL] (Element ID 6235074), Reddish Brown (6232210) and Dark Brown (6235076).

Printed pieces in in 71403 Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle

I just want to mention two of the main decorated elements in this set. Firstly we are provided with an army (or a school?) of nanofigs (aka Statuettes or Mini Figure Trophies; it seems that the nomenclature used by TLG is Statuette when printed and Mini Figure Trophy when unprinted).

There are 24 printed statuettes (tap/click any image to enlarge) depicting some of the key characters in the Harry Potter series.

The statuette version of Harry Potter means that there are now three sizes of Harry: statuette, minifigure with short legs and minifigure with short posable legs.

As a slight aside, Mini Figure Trophy elements i.e. unprinted statuettes are included as part of the scenery. There are 27 in this set, coming in White (Element ID 6073432), Black (6107890) and Warm Gold [TLG]/ Pearl Gold [BL] (6138682). I received two spare White statuettes which seemed very generous.

Another nicely printed part that has been introduced is the decorative Glass For Frame 1X2X2 (Element ID 6241717) which has Brick Yellow printing on one side to give the impression of tracery (stone curves within Gothic windows that support glass panes).

There are 29 printed panes in the set and the printed glass pane is designed to fit seamlessly into the Brick Yellow Wall 1X2X2 W. Bowed Slit (Element ID 4642933 | Design ID 90195).

Brick Yellow [TLG]/ Tan [BL]

Plate 1x3 w/ 2 Knobs (Element ID 6211966 | Design ID 34103) appears for the first time in Brick Yellow in this set with 19 supplied. This is the eighth colour.

Since its introduction in 2017, Brick 1X1X1 2/3, w/ Vert. Knobs has been widely used within the BrickHeadz theme and now appears in an array of ten colours but this is the first appearance of Brick Yellow (Element ID 6232135 | Design ID 32952). There are 25 supplied!

Blade No. 9 (Element ID 6230282 | Design ID 24482), and in fact Hogwarts Great Hall also has another new colour as Brick Yellow (Element ID 6227231) debuts in this set, giving a nice selection of four colours for the blade element which I have often seen used as part of microscale MOCs.

Sand Green

Ski pole (Elements ID 6233298 | Design ID 18745) which also appears in 75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow and 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall, where it forms the finial on top of the conical turret roofs.

Snake Large w/ Raised Head (Element ID 6241713 | Design ID 39554) which I believe is the same mould as the Olive Green snake with Black eyes that comes with Voldemort in 71022 Wizarding World Collectable Minifigure Series.

Silver Metallic [TLG] / Flat Silver [BL]

There is a new addition to the ‘stadium tile’ Flat Tile 1x1 ½ Circle (Element ID 6231636 | Design ID 24246). I was certain that I had seen this colour before and I had to search my own parts box. Actually, I was thinking of the printed version (Element ID 6172736) from 70902 Catwoman Catcycle Chase (Amazon USA|Amazon UK), which looks like heel of a stiletto.

Black

There are five Dementor statuettes in Black (Element ID 6232036 | Design ID 16478) in the set.

This element is actually a recolour of the Transparent Light Blue version called Hologram (Element ID 6072854) from LEGO Star Wars 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer in 2014, which also came in 75190 First Order Star Destroyer (Amazon USA|Amazon UK currently 30% off) in 2017.

Reddish Brown

To finish our recoloured parts roundup, we have an unprinted one worthy of note. I was pleased to see an unprinted version of the minifigure-sized paint brush included in this set as elements of this nature allow a greater range of uses e.g. the plain white lipstick element used in 21033 Chicago (Amazon USA | Amazon UK currently 25% off).

Return from abeyance

While the elements mentioned below are not new as such, they have returned after an extended period of time and warrant a mention. It can be useful when parts that have been unavailable for a while return in a new set, as the price and availability improves.

Brick Yellow [TLG] / Tan [BL]

Round Brick 2X2X2 (Elements ID 6232140 | Design ID 30361) has only appeared once before, back in 2015 in 75080 Star Wars AAT.

Coupling Plate 2X2 (Element ID 6170776 | Design ID 3176) appeared in a handful of sets between 2003 and 2005 and disappeared before making a flash appearance in the 75056 Star Wars Advent Calendar 2014. This time, two are supplied and while it is not rare as such, this part does seem to appear in limited quantities in sets. 71043 Hogwarts Castle only has five, in Reddish Brown (Element ID 6172636) and this colour has only ever appeared in three sets including 70620 Ninjago City.

Phew, 71043 Hogwarts Castle is a very large set and building it will take a lot longer now that I have opened all the numbered bags up to look for new elements and mixed everything up! 6,020 elements looks rather intimidating when you pour it into a large pile. I’m looking forward to taking a closer look at how Justin Ramsden uses these new elements to create his microscale version of Hogwarts Castle.

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11 comments:

You mention that there are three sizes of Harry Potter but I assume that's referring to only those figures from the newest wave; otherwise you could also include the older Harry figs with the standard minifig legs and the Lego Games microfigure from the Hogwarts game.

Though I have no plans to get this set, a number of the parts in it have me excited as an Elves fan who hopes to try and continue the theme through MOCs after it concludes this year. The new arches are wonderful and will be a great fit for the typical Elvendale architecture. They may have ended up getting cut from the smaller Great Hall set this year, but I hope that we do see them in smaller sets in the future so that it's easier to stock up.

The Sand Yellow corner mountain brick is also great—I'm a huge fan of BURPs for efficiently building up a landscape, so having this recent addition to the mountain brick family in yet another color is fantastic.

Despite being less of a Harry Potter fan than I used to be, the reduced scale of this Hogwarts set has also been inspiring for me. I've been messing around on LDD with concepts for a microscale Quidditch pitch that could complement this set. Haven't quite settled on one yet but it's amazing how much a change in scale can affect the way you think about building.

Hi Andrew, Thanks for your comments. You are correct, I was only referring to the current releases as I do not have any of the older Harry Potters. It would be an ideal line-up with the standard and microfig versions you mention of course.Yes I agree that anyone who is a fan of BURPs will like this as it suggested more landscape grass/woodland terrain to build upon than rock...obviously you can hide the BURP completely but different colours are good.

Nagini is the same design as the Basilisk, but may in fact be from a different mold. Nagini comes with the CMF Voldemort, which means it has to be Chinese production. If the Basilisk came individually bagged in the stretchy clear bag material, and was then packed inside one of the numbered polybags, then it should also be Chinese production from the same mold. If it was just thrown in like a regular part, that means they probably cut a second mold for use in Europe, which may have some distinguishing features, such as different placement of mold markings that appear on the belly of the snake. Reading from tail to head, I can identify the Design ID (looks like 38801?), the LEGO copyright stamp, and what's probably the mold/cavity number used to track down defects and damage so they can be fixed. I also see two ejector pin marks, with one being to the left of the Design ID and the other being a bit farther to the right of the mold/cavity number. I don't own the Basilisk version, so I can't compare the two to see if they are indeed the same mold.

You know, on second look, I think that the Basilisk is slightly different as it has two lines near the end of it's body towards the tail. Similar but not EXACTLY the same. I will need to double check the mould numbers now!! Thanks PD.

Lines running along the length, or "banding" like a Corral Snake or King Snake? The Nagini I have parked next to me has a minifig grip formed into the last section of tail, and it's _not_ a clean transition. There's an abrupt reduction in diameter at both ends of the grip.

Also, the Design ID should still be identical regardless. It's intended to be the same, even if there are slight variations in the molds. Beyond that, a jeweler's loop might help you actually read the numbers, but a simple comparison should be enough to see if the markings look like they came off the same mold or if they're radically different. As for myself, I'm a ways off from buying this set, so I'll have to rely on your eyes (or camera) to tell me if it's a Chinese or European Basilisk.

Those 1x1 brackets are at least 20 years old as I have a few "ff" prototypes of them. While the whole bracket thing really have exploded in this millennium I wonder if they weren't thought out ages ago in Billund?

Can't fathom they didn't make an end-piece for that new arch! So very usefull, yet limited without the third part (as is evident in that set). Could have been usefull for the minifig scaled Hogwarts but I guess it wasn't ready (that bit about cost is nonsense, the more sets these parts appear in, the cheaper they'll be for TLG)